East St. Louis Man Sentenced for Weapons Offense

U.S. Attorney’s Office
January 04, 2011

Southern District of Illinois(618) 628-3700

Stephen R. Wigginton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced
today that on January 3, 2011, JIM L. SIMS, JR., age 36, of East St. Louis, Illinois, was sentenced in
the United States District Court in East St. Louis to 37 months of imprisonment, three
years of supervised release, and was fined $250. SIMS had previously pled guilty on September 30,
2010, to possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon.

The violation occurred on February 24, 2010, when agents working a detail in East St. Louis
received information that a male in a green Buick had a firearm. When the officers spotted the vehicle,
it was stopped after committing several traffic violations were observed. The driver of the vehicle gave
the officers consent to search the car. Officers found a Ruger, 9mm semi-automatic pistol, in the
vehicle's glove compartment. The defendant was the front seat passenger in the vehicle. After the gun
was found, the defendant immediately apologized to the driver and told the officers that the gun
belonged to him. The defendant again admitted possession of the gun in a videotaped statement.

The case resulted from the efforts of the WAVE (Working Against Violent Elements) Task
Force, which focuses its efforts on combating violent crime in East St. Louis, Washington Park, and
surrounding communities. WAVE was formed in November 2009, and is a collaboration of law
enforcement officers from the Illinois State Police, the Metropolitan Enforcement Group of
Southwestern Illinois (MEGSI), the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department, the East St. Louis Police
Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and
Explosives, and the United States Marshals Service. The WAVE Task Force receives financial support
through the Department of Justice's Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) initiative, a nationwide federal
program which endeavors to address gun-related violence.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Angela Scott.